Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos, better known by his stage name Criss Angel is an American magician, musician, mentalist, hypnotist, escapologist, stunt performer, and actor. He is best known for starring in his own television show, Criss Angel Mindfreak.
Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967, raised in Long Island, New York and is of Greek descent. Angel grew up loving music, had a love for playing drums, and has always had an interest in magic. His parents are John and Dimitra Sarantakos. His mother hails from Mystra, Greece. He has two brothers, Costa and JD, as well as two cats, Minx and Hammie (short for Hamlet). One of Criss's biggest influences has been his father, who died from carcinoma of the stomach.
According to his interview with Larry King before Halloween in 2007 he was an altar boy in the Greek Orthodox Church as he was growing up.
Criss Angel first became interested in magic at the age of 6, when his Aunt Stella showed him a magic trick. Two of his biggest magic influences are Harry Houdini and Aldo Richiardi. As a teenager, Angel performed at birthday parties, at night clubs, at home to entertain his family, and at private events. Early in his magic career, magician James Randi designed Angel's professional business card. The first person who actually taught him the art of magic was Ian Wagner.
Angel played in an Industrial music band called AngelDust with friend Klayton Scott (Celldweller, Argyle Park) who produced, co-wrote, and helped arrange the music for his show, Mindfreak.
He married, in 2002, JoAnn Winkhart, an actress and daughter of Richard Winkhart; his wife filed for divorce in June 2007.
Criss Angel is the star and creator of the A&E Network show Criss Angel Mindfreak. Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed at the The Aladdin in Las Vegas, with Season 3 at the Luxor Hotel. Premiering on July 20, 2005, the illusions have included walking on water, levitating above the Luxor Hotel, floating between two buildings, causing a Lamborghini to disappear, surviving in an exploding C4 Crate, cutting himself in half in full view of an audience and getting run over by a steamroller while lying stomach down on a bed of glass. Criss is scheduled to begin filming Season 4 of Mindfreak in October 2007, and the show is scheduled to run for two more seasons after that.
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/criss-angel-mindfreak-fn5n2/biography
